Publication Date

Understanding Reference Models and Reference Architectures

Presentation at SATURN 2014. The speaker presents industry-standard best practices for using reference models for categorizing architecture content.

Publisher: Software Engineering Institute

This presentation was created for a conference series or symposium and does not necessarily reflect the positions and views of the Software Engineering Institute.

Abstract

The notion of reference models and reference architectures are used pervasively in the architecture profession. However, when applying these concepts in practice, there is often confusion as to how they are different, yet related. The speaker will present industry-standard best practices regarding how to use reference models for categorizing architecture content for different purposes (such as planning, life-cycle management, gap analysis, and enterprise-wide alignment) and how they relate to architecture and solution building blocks (per TOGAF). The presentation continues with a discussion of how reference architectures are similarly used but also how they can be used to represent architecture patterns, design patterns, and best practices.